Documentary Edge E-Newsletter

#32 - Feb 2010

Kia ora! We have re-branded and Documentary Edge is the new name to embrace. Documentary Edge Festival 2010 is just around the corner in Auckland and programmes are available around the city. Documentary Edge Forum 2010 is going to be THE documentary industry event to attend this year. We are also proud to announce Documentary Edge’s latest partners: Triangle Stratos, i-Site, and The Big Idea.

In this newsletter we announce the latest information about the Festival, the Forum and other Documentary Edge Events. We urge you to register for the Forum, get tickets to the Festival and support this year’s Documentary Edge events.

Auckland City’s Movies in Parks is back again with an impressive 12 midweek Kiwi films across four Auckland parks - Tahaki Reserve, Glover Park, Grey Lynn Park and Owairaka Park.

Tonight (Wed the 10th of Feb) at Tahaki Reserve (Mount Eden) is the screening of NZ’s best documentary from last year, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls. Directed by Leanne Polley (attending) and produced by Arani Cuthbert, the film is a profile of the world's only comedic, singing, dancing, lesbian twin sisters.

The Documentary Edge team will also be there to promote the up-coming Documentary Edge Festival and festival programmes will be available to all.

After months in the working the new brand and festival programme were announced at the prestigious Quadrant Hotel’s penthouse on 27 Jan. Media and partners witnessed the birth of Documentary Edge and received an overview of the up-coming Documentary Edge Festival and Forum.

We wish to thank Brian Richards, the branding strategist, and Simon Cohen, the designer of the new brand for their hard work and generous support of the Documentary New Zealand Trust.

The 5th Documentary Edge Festival will open in Auckland at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket on 27 Feb. The Opening Night Film is The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story and the special ticket price includes drink, nibbles and giveaways.

56 films from 25 countries divided into 8 categories makeup this year’s festival. The Festival site is THE place to find out the latest information about the Festival. A big thank you Andy Kirkwood and Justine Flanagan of Motive for their brilliant work on the new site.Let us know what you think of the new festival website.

Programmes are already available at the cinema venues and also in many public places around Auckland. We can also mail one to you (within NZ) if you send us your postal address.

For Auckland, you can book tickets online. Many sessions will be attended by the filmmakers and Q&As will follow the screening. Don’t miss these films as most of them will not return to the big screen in NZ.

3. Documentary Edge – new partners

We welcome the following new Documentary Edge partners.

We are proud to announce our exclusive free-to-air television partner, Triangle Stratos. New Zealand’s multi-cultural television company Triangle Stratos is a great fit to promote the diverse festival’s content.

The partnership will start on February 15 with a series of 15 minute items that will give festival goers a taste of what they can expect to see at Documentary Edge Festival. The channel will also air film trailers and our TVC. Thanks to Deb and Jim.

We are proud to announce a partnership with i-Site Media , New Zealand’s most innovative out of home advertising provider. When syou see the Festival’s ad on the back of a local bus or watch the Festival advert on a ride on the Link Bus, this is thanks to the kind support of i-Site Media. Thanks to Kim and Emma.

We are proud to announce a media partnership with The Big Idea - the online home of New Zealand’s creative community.The Big Idea supports emerging and established creative practitioners by providing an online platform to share news, events, jobs, opportunities and resources to help develop ‘big ideas’ into viable careers, projects and businesses in New Zealand’s creative economy.

You can find direct links and RSS feeds about the Documentary Edge Festival with the latest news, trailers and more. Thanks to Cathy, Margaret and the TBI team.

4. Documentary Edge Forum – AUT, Auckland, 1-3 March

The 4th Documentary Edge Forum (formerly DOCNZ Summit) is only a couple of weeks away. The 3-day Forum includes master-classes, seminars, panel discussions, pitching forum, date-a-doco and social functions.

Registration is now open with options for 1-day and 3-day passes and discounted fees for Guild members, students, and AUT staff.

5. China Day at Documentary Edge Forum

The Documentary Edge Forum will feature a China Day presentation on 1 March. We will introduce the Guangzhou International Documentary Festival (GZ Doc) delegation and other Chinese visitors and there will be a panel discussion that will be held about Chinese documentary making.

The Chinese visitors will also be introduced to the local industry and invited to participate in the Date a Doco session along with all other international visitors and local participants.

China is also the country spotlight at this year’s Documentary Edge Festival and some of this year’s films have been curated with the kind assistance of GZ Doc.

6. Documentary Edge Awards – new finalists announced

Each year, the Documentary NZ Trust recognises achievements through its annual Awards Night. This year the Documentary Edge Awards Night will be held at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre in Epsom on 3rd of March. Limited tickets are available at $35. Contact Eventimento NZ Ltd or call 09 846 1861 / 027 222 5516.

Other awards yet to be annouced are Best Pitch from the Documentary Edge Pitching Forum and award for Best Contribution to the NZ Documentary Industry.

7. Industry News

Congratulations to Briar March and Lynn Collie for winning the Grand Prize at FIFO 2010 for There Once Was an Island.

Congratulations to Leanne Pooley and Arani Cuthbert for picking-up another award for The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls. The film has just won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Gothenburg Film Festival.

The International Documentary Challenge returns to the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto. This year's challenge takes place Mar 4-8, 2010 with the Hot Docs premiere of the Finalists in early May. Registration is now open.

BBC’s My World - a documentary competition open to anyone in the world to enter and they are looking for original, short docs (max 2 mins) with the brief "My World". The project aims to find original stories from each continent, with compelling personal narratives. The aim is to be able to create a vivid and compelling picture of life in the world today. In total 50 films will be broadcasted internationally by the BBC.